David S. Goyer – Nerdisthttp://nerdist.com
Fri, 09 Dec 2016 15:15:21 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.6.1David S. Goyer on THE FOREST, Horror, and Comic-Book Movies Then and Nowhttp://nerdist.com/david-s-goyer-on-the-forest-horror-and-comic-book-movies-then-and-now/
Fri, 08 Jan 2016 21:00:36 +0000http://nerdist.com/?p=352626Depending upon your age, David S. Goyer is probably best known as the man who helped revive comic-book movies by writing the Blade films, the man who helped revive comic-book movies by co-writing the Dark Knight films, or the man currently trying to revive comic-book movies with Batman v Superman and everything that comes after. This week, however, he’s the producer of The Forest, a horror movie which sends Game of Thrones‘ Natalie Dormer to Japan in search of her twin sister, who disappeared into a forest famous for suicides.

The location is real. But Goyer wasn’t allowed to let his crew shoot there.

“The Japanese government absolutely would not let us do it; they were worried about us encouraging copycats and things like that,” he says. “So we looked all over the world for forests that were on the same latitude, and we found one, to our surprise, in Serbia. We had no idea whether or not we could even find a crew in Serbia, but it turns out there’s some pretty good crew there.” Serbia’s forests, fortunately for the viewer but perhaps less so for the actors on location, proved no less creepy. “A chunk of the film was done out in the middle of nowhere, and yeah, it’s creepy there. You can wander in and potentially not see anyone for days there, and Serbia has its own strange, at least from a western perspective…it’s an odd and unusual country, so there’s certainly a sense of displacement for the western crew and cast that were there.”

The Forest is the first film to be produced by Goyer that he neither wrote nor directed–the first of several, he says, including four that will shoot this year. As he’s been getting heavily into TV with shows like Da Vinci’s Demons and Constantine, he has found that collaboration not only makes his time-management easier, but also helps him to mentor new writers and directors, which he likes. “I really enjoy developing kind of young voices, helping develop story, and I’d like to think I’ve gotten fairly experienced at it through my couple decades working in the studio system,” he says. “The movies that I’m producing, it’s because a lot of these films are being developed outside the traditional studio system, so this film and a lot of these films moving forward have a less manufactured feel, for lack of a better word. There are not as many voices involved, and that’s kind of liberating….Some of my favorite sequences in the film are just sort of odd disturbing moments, and there are places where the film where we let it breathe. It’s sort of creepy and atmospheric, but subtly unsettling. I think this film, in a traditional studio system, probably a lot of those moments would have been–we would have been asked to get rid of them. And I like that they’re there.”

Longtime followers of Goyer’s work will recognize themes in The Forest similar to those in films he did direct, like The Unborn and The Invisible. As he notes, “I think there are themes that any creative person is drawn to, and so there’s probably a reason why. I like stories about the afterlife; I like twins, I guess, even though there aren’t any twins in my family, and I also like stories with unreliable narrators, which Sara is to a certain extent, because in this film, we’re not certain, at a certain point, whether or not she’s completely sane and we leave the audience in a gray area for a similar portion of the film. The character of Aiden as well, I like the fact that he sort of vacillates–is he a good guy? Is he a bad guy? I like gray areas, I guess.”

As for what lurks within the forest, he’s drawn to Asian ghosts in part because westerners don’t tend to know what they’re getting into with them, which he calls “one of the reasons I’m attracted to J-horror, for lack of a better word. It has its own rules, not traditional kind of Judeo-Christian mythology.” When we deal with ghosts, or demons, we have some sort of idea what kind of afterlife, with variations on Heaven and Hell, we’re getting into. Not so in a non-Christian culture. He explains:

“I think there’s a familiarity in the Exorcist-type films – the audience already seems to unconsciously understand the rules–whereas the rules of the Suicide Forest, they aren’t. And because it’s different, it’s more alien literally and figuratively, and I think sometimes more alien is scarier. I always feel that the horror films that – this is personal preference, but I tend to not like ghost stories…I like monsters and ghosts that you can’t communicate with. I think the Alien is scary because you can’t negotiate with it. It Follows, for instance. You can’t negotiate, it just IS, it’s just other, and so even though the ghosts in our film sometimes communicate, you don’t really understand what they want and there’s no easy out. It’s not like you give the audience a set of rules and say ‘if you attack them with garlic, or if you show up with a cross, you’ll defeat them.’ In fact, there isn’t really any defeating them in this film, and I think it makes it scarier.”

This, of course, brings up an obvious segue. Is that inability to negotiate, that unrelenting pursuit, part of the reason he put Doomsday in Batman v Superman?

“You know I can’t talk about that.”

Just a vaguely thematic comment, I beseech him.

“Yeah. Unfortunately, Warners isn’t ready to talk about that film yet. They’ll jump on me if I do.”

Determined not to depart the interview without something BvS related, I ask if the recent trailer gives away too much, as some fans have feared. His response to that is positive: “There are still surprises. I wouldn’t be worried about that.”

He will, however, comment on the Superman prequel TV series Krypton, if only to note that, “Touch wood, we’ll be filming that maybe May. So it’s very much in early prep stages right now. I would say the most exciting thing about it is, I’ve seen some chatter online and so far everything I’ve read is completely wrong. I don’t think it’s AT ALL what people are expecting, which is kinda neat.”

So how have things changed these past two decades for comic-book movies between Blade and Batfleck? I figure he’s the guy to ask.

“Dollars equates to respect in Hollywood. That’s the only way you get respect in Hollywood,” he says. “So yeah, I mean, they were very much derided as source material when I started, and now every studio’s falling all over themselves trying to come up with their own shared universe and I think they know that they have to get the core elements right or else it won’t be successful. So I don’t know if it’s respect, or they just know as a business model it’s the only way it works.”

“They know they need to find people that understand the core elements – I don’t know if THEY understand the core elements!”

]]>Guillermo del Toro in Talks to Direct FANTASTIC VOYAGE Remakehttp://nerdist.com/guillermo-del-toro-in-talks-to-direct-fantastic-voyage-remake/
Thu, 07 Jan 2016 20:00:17 +0000http://nerdist.com/?p=352324He’s shown us magical, frightening worlds full of monsters, giant robots, forest nymphs, and demonic heroes, but it looks like Guillermo del Toro‘s next film will take us somewhere we’ve never seen him go: inside of the human body. The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that the Crimson Peak and Pan’s Labyrinth director will be taking the reins of Fox’s remake of the 1966 sci-fi/adventure spectacular, Fantastic Voyage.

The project had been in James Cameron‘s hands for quite awhile, and in fact, we reported back in May of 2014 that Cameron had hired writer David Goyer to write the treatment and script. Cameron will still make use of Goyer’s script and produce from his production company, Lightstorm Entertainment, along with Twentieth Century Fox. Ever the hands-on creator, del Toro will work with Goyer on the script from here on out.

The original Fantastic Voyage, directed by Richard Fleischer, is a sci-fi story wherein a group of scientists have to shrink down to the size of microbes to go inside the bloodstream of a defected Soviet scientist who has developed a way to make shrinking indefinite and save him from a blood clot following an assassination attempt. I doubt the Goyer/del Toro version will maintain the Cold War element, but who knows? The movie is, however, a special effects extravaganza and the model work of the ship and creation of giant versions of bodily systems are still a landmark in movie technology.

Along with the news about Fantastic Voyage comes the news that the much-ballyhooed Pacific Rim 2 project del Toro has been working on has been shelved indefinitely. I suppose we’ll all have to be content with giant White Blood Cell attacks instead of kaiju.

Are you stoked for del Toro’s take on the inside of the human body? Will there be a Faun inside that too? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Kyle Anderson loves movies and is a film and TV critic for Nerdist.com. Follow him on Twitter for oblique references to things seven people have seen!

Nerdist Industries is a subsidiary of Legendary Digital Networks.

]]>Nerdist Podcast: David Goyerhttp://nerdist.com/nerdist-podcast-david-goyer/
Sat, 24 Oct 2015 13:30:22 +0000http://nerdist.com/?p=323195Writer/Producer David Goyer (Batman Begins, Dark Knight Rises, Blade) talks with Chris and Matt about making the movie Blade, coming to Hollywood as a young writer, and making smart decisions when choosing jobs. He also talks a lot about Batman Begins, Dark Knight Rises, Man of Steel and the final season of DaVinci’s Demons!

]]>David Goyer Confirms New KRYPTON TV Series Is Prequel to MAN OF STEELhttp://nerdist.com/david-goyer-confirms-new-krypton-tv-series-is-prequel-to-man-of-steel/
Fri, 23 Oct 2015 12:00:29 +0000http://nerdist.com/?p=323128DC Comics fans have never had it better when it comes to representation on television, with no less than five shows soon to be on the air:Arrow, Flash, Gotham, and the upcoming Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow. One point of contention, however, has been that unlike Marvel’s TV shows, such as Agents of SHIELD and Daredevil, the DC shows don’t connect to the larger DC Cinematic Universe established in Man of Steel and continuing in next year’s Batman v Superman, Suicide Squad, and all the others.

Well, that’s about to change. While doing promotion for his television series Da Vinci’s Demons, writer David Goyer spoke a bit about his upcoming series for the SyFy Channel called Krypton, which centers around the last few centuries of Superman’s doomed home planet. According to Goyer, Krypton will “take place 200 years before Man of Steel. We’re treating Krypton like it’s a historical piece. We look to previous cultures on Earth to model what that would be like.” That’s the first confirmation we’ve had that the new show takes place in the same continuity as the films.

Goyer added, “We scratched the surface in the film and, for me, that was the allure. I was always fascinated, as a kid, with the books about Krypton and they’ve only shaded in a tiny bit, so we’ll learn about the politics of the world. We’ll learn about the culture, the art, all the different guilds.” While the show would presumably focus on the planet’s capital Kryptonopolis, the plan is to explore other cities on the world too, which could eventually include Argo, Supergirl’s hometown, and Kandor, the city that was famously shrunk down by the villain Brainiac. With both Supergirl and Brainiac rumored to be included in a potential Man of Steel sequel or even Justice League, a Krypton series might be the right place to seed some of these story elements early. The new show doesn’t have a premiere date yet, but it’s expected sometime in 2016.

Are you excited about a potential Krypton series now that it connects to the greater DC film universe? Let us know in the comments below!

]]>KRYPTON TV Series Heading to Syfy with David S. Goyer and Ian Goldberghttp://nerdist.com/krypton-tv-series-heading-to-syfy-with-david-s-goyer-and-ian-goldberg/
http://nerdist.com/krypton-tv-series-heading-to-syfy-with-david-s-goyer-and-ian-goldberg/#commentsTue, 09 Dec 2014 02:30:12 +0000http://www.nerdist.com/?p=208174Earlier this year, we got our first taste of a Batman-less Batman series with Gotham. Now, we’ll be getting a Superman-less Superman series in the form of Krypton, a new TV series being developed for Syfy by David S. Goyer and Ian Goldberg.

The one-hour drama series was rumored earlier this year, and now it seems that it wasn’t just hearsay after all. Goyer, who is currently DC’s go-to guy for developing projects (e.g. Constantine, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Man of Steel) will executive produce the series alongside Ian Goldberg (Once Upon a Time, FlashForward). Though Goldberg will write the teleplay, the story was conceived by Goyer and Goldberg together.

Here’s the official description:

“Years before the Superman legend we know, the House of El was shamed and ostracized. This series follows The Man of Steel’s grandfather as he brings hope and equality to Krypton, turning a planet in disarray into one worthy of giving birth to the greatest Super Hero ever known”

Hey, at least we won’t have to see Batman’s parents die again! In all seriousness, though, the prospect of deep space political intrigue on Superman’s eventual homeworld sounds like a fresh, engaging take on the superhero TV genre that we haven’t exactly seen yet. If they can tap into that same tone as Battlestar Galactica or Caprica, then Syfy might be able to make this prequel story one well worth your time.

Far and away, one of the most fascinating parts of 2013’s Man of Steel wasn’t the sheer amount of civilian life lost during Superman’s mid-Metropolis battle with General Zod. Rather, it was the sequences that took place at the film’s outset on Superman’s homeworld of Krypton where we saw a highly advanced society torn apart across partisan lines as it hurtles towards its impending destruction.

And before you try to make a tired joke about you already knowing how the series ends, let me remind you that the Titanic sinks, Mark Wahlberg is the lone survivor, and James Franco had to cut his own arm off. All of these are compelling stories in spite of the fact that we already know how they end. Remember — it’s not just about the destination; it’s how you get there.

What could the show possibly look like? Back in late October, we broke down on Nerdist News how Krypton could be DC’s answer to Game of Thrones:

—

Are you excited for a Krypton TV series? What would you like to see from it? Let us know in the comments below or tell me on Twitter (@Osteoferocious).

]]>http://nerdist.com/krypton-tv-series-heading-to-syfy-with-david-s-goyer-and-ian-goldberg/feed/8Cyborg Cast In BATMAN Vs. SUPERMANhttp://nerdist.com/cyborg-cast-in-batman-vs-superman/
http://nerdist.com/cyborg-cast-in-batman-vs-superman/#commentsFri, 25 Apr 2014 15:15:10 +0000http://www.nerdist.com/?p=136466Looks like those rumors a few months ago were true… former Teen Titan and current Justice Leaguer Cyborg is also joining the cast of the as-yet-untitled Batman Vs. Superman movie from Zack Snyder and writer David S. Goyer, which really at this point should probably be called Justice League (I mean, three’s company, but four is a team, right?) So who is playing Victor Stone, former football player turned mechanized superhero? According to an exclusive report in Variety, the part has gone to actor Ray Fisher, an actor best known for theater roles like the Broadway play Fetch Clay, Make Man, in which he played Muhammad Ali. Fisher was also one of several actors who was also recently up for a role in Star Wars: Episode VII.

According to the original story, Cyborg isn’t going to be a big part of this movie, and it does sound like it might be a cameo setting up a future Justice League movie, which will no doubt follow up Batman Vs. Superman. If that is indeed that case, expect a Justice League line-up that resembles the current New 52 line-up of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Cyborg, Green Lantern, Flash, and maybe Aquaman. Sorry, Martian Manhunter, but I’d bet real money that Cyborg just replaced you on the big screen like he did in the comics. Maybe next time, Mr. J’onzz.

]]>http://nerdist.com/cyborg-cast-in-batman-vs-superman/feed/3The First Pictures of NBC’S CONSTANTINE Look Fantastichttp://nerdist.com/the-first-pictures-of-nbcs-constantine-look-fantastic/
http://nerdist.com/the-first-pictures-of-nbcs-constantine-look-fantastic/#commentsThu, 13 Mar 2014 18:48:05 +0000http://www.nerdist.com/?p=122681Fans of Vertigo and DC’s long-running Hellblazerseries have learned to take on-screen adaptations of their favorite hard drinking, chain-smoking Liverpudlian mystic John Constantine with a Swamp Thing-sized grain of salt. While 2005’s Constantine wasn’t necessarily a bad movie, many, myself included, were mystified by the studio’s decision to cast Johnny Utah himself, Keanu Reeves, as the blond-haired Brit. So, naturally, when NBC announced they’d be adapting the comic book series into a primetime drama, a sense of collective PTSD began to set in. Thankfully, it seems, our trepidation was misplaced as far as aesthetics are concerned, because the first images of Matt Ryan as John Constantine have been revealed and they are pure magic.

Along with the official image, executive producer David S. Goyer released a statement, saying, “I’ve been a fan of John Constantine since he was first introduced in 1985. This Constantine, envisioned by Neil Marshall and embodied by Matt Ryan, looks like he sprang directly from the comics’ covers. Fans old and new are going to be in for a treat.”

Also, according to the NBC description, Constantine “follows enigmatic and irreverent Liverpool con-man-turned-occult-detective John Constantine, who is reluctantly thrust into the role of defending our world against dark forces from beyond.” Joining Ryan in the pilot are Harold Perrineau, Charles Halford, and Lucy Griffiths.

Another shot was posted via Slates For Sarah, a tribute page for the late Sarah Elizabeth Jones. (You can find out more about the scholarship in her name here).

If the rest of the production is on par with the visuals, then we may just have a winner on our hands here, folks. What do you think of Matt Ryan as Constantine? Let us know in the comments below.HT: DC Comics

]]>http://nerdist.com/the-first-pictures-of-nbcs-constantine-look-fantastic/feed/11Rumor: Are Batman Vs. Superman And Justice League Shooting Back-To-Back?http://nerdist.com/rumor-are-batman-vs-superman-and-justice-league-shooting-back-to-back/
http://nerdist.com/rumor-are-batman-vs-superman-and-justice-league-shooting-back-to-back/#commentsTue, 14 Jan 2014 02:30:36 +0000http://www.nerdist.com/?p=105526The guys over at Latino-Review have run a rather interesting rumor today, one that suggests that Warner Brothers plan to shoot the upcoming Batman Vs. Superman movie back-to-back with the inevitable Justice League movie. This makes sense of all the rumors of characters ranging from Aquaman to Dwayne Johnson as Green Lantern to even the Martian Manhunter appearing. Although not explicitly stated in the original report, this does seem to suggest that Zack Snyder will be directing both films, and David S. Goyer will probably write it as well, which seems to squash any suggestion that Affleck himself might direct.

Many sequels have filmed this way in the recent past, like the Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, the second and third Pirates of the Caribbean sequels, and of course The Hobbit films. The reasons for this? According to the original story, it’s “to maximize everyone’s schedules. Ben Affleck is a busy man, Henry Cavill is in demand, and (Dwayne) Johnson is a workaholic. Not to mention Amy Adams, Laurence Fishburne, and the rest of the unannounced cast are no slouches either.”

Another reason is said to be, “Because Batman vs Superman is going to end with an insane cliffhanger/teaser that leads right into Justice League and, like those other back-to-back productions, they want to be able to deliver the second film within a year to strike while the iron is hot.” Right now, 2015 is literally overflowing with high profile blockbusters, but 2016 is a little less insane: we have X-Men: Apocalypse, Independence Day 2, a couple of Marvel Studios movies, Amazing Spider-Man 3, Finding Dory… OK, it’s still an insane slate, but slightly less so than next year. Justice League might want to stake a claim on a weekend that summer sooner rather than later.

According to the original report, “This would also explain the abundance of characters we keep hearing linked to BvS, and should also soothe the fears of folks that think it’s going to be too loaded a film. In essence, all this talk of Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman, Nightwing, Flash, Green Lantern, etc. might all just be leading to a single gigantic group cameo before the credits roll, starting a fever pitch of anticipation for Justice League in 2016.” My own personal opinion is that with the big deal made of Gal Gadot’s casting as Wonder Woman, she’ll have a more sizable part in BvS than a cameo. If this is indeed true, expect a panel at Comic-Con that will dwarf everyone else’s.

]]>http://nerdist.com/rumor-are-batman-vs-superman-and-justice-league-shooting-back-to-back/feed/10Warner Bros. Greenlights David Goyer’s CONSTANTINE Pilothttp://nerdist.com/warner-bros-greenlights-david-goyers-constantine-pilot/
http://nerdist.com/warner-bros-greenlights-david-goyers-constantine-pilot/#commentsTue, 14 Jan 2014 01:00:09 +0000http://www.nerdist.com/?p=105463Everything’s coming up Milhouse Warner Bros. and DC Comics! Not only did Fox announce that they’re taking Gotham to series, but NBC has also confirmed that they are greenlighting the Constantine pilot from David S. Goyer (Man of Steel) and Daniel Cerone (The Mentalist). We first reported on Constantineback in September, but now DC’s resident unsavory supernatural detective will be making the leap from pitch to pilot. Created back in 1985 as a supporting character in Swamp Thing, Constantine has gone on to be one of the most beloved anti-heroes in the DC Universe, thanks in no small part to his delightful blend of hard drinking, supernatural mystery, and being an all around bastard.

Although John Constantine is a newcomer to TV, he was portrayed on the big screen back in 2005’s Constantine by none other than Keanu Reeves, which was decidedly at odds with Constantine’s background as a blond haired, blue-eyed Brit. Fun fact: Sting actually served as the visual inspiration for creating Constantine. Given that Constantine is rumored to feature heavily in Guillermo del Toro’s rumored Justice League Dark film, introducing the general public to the character via a serialized drama is a smart move by Warner Bros. and DC. Here’s hoping that NBC is willing to let them bring the kind of insanity to TV screens that Garth Ennis and Brian Azzarello brought to the comic’s pages.

Who would you like to see play Constantine? Is a Constantine series a good idea? Sound off in the comments below or tell me on Twitter.

]]>http://nerdist.com/warner-bros-greenlights-david-goyers-constantine-pilot/feed/22Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Final Talks to Direct, Star In SANDMANhttp://nerdist.com/joseph-gordon-levitt-in-final-talks-to-direct-star-in-sandman/
http://nerdist.com/joseph-gordon-levitt-in-final-talks-to-direct-star-in-sandman/#commentsTue, 17 Dec 2013 00:30:21 +0000http://www.nerdist.com/?p=102053While many of us thought they’d get The Cure’s Robert Smith, it seems that Warner Bros. is in final talks for Joseph Gordon-Levitt to star in an adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s reimagining of Sandman. Deadline reports that Gordon-Levitt will also apparently co-produce the film with David S. Goyer and could possibly even direct it himself. He’s already proven that he’s quite adept at directing himself in his debut Don Jon from earlier this year, and this might just be a move for him to be the next Clint Eastwood.

Gaiman’s Sandman shifts between horror and fantasy, and the central character is Morpheus, the personification of dreams. After being held captive 70 years, Morpheus escapes, gains revenge and rebuilds his crumbling kingdom while trying to adapt to the times. The Vertigo Comics title ran from 1989 to 1996, producing 75 issues, and would routinely guest star several other of DC/Vertigo’s more magical characters, like John Constantine, Phantom Stranger, and Etrigan the Demon.

Gordon-Levitt is no stranger to comic book adaptations, having, of course, played the pivotal role of Officer John Blake in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, and will play Johnny, an original character, in Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez’s upcoming Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. What Gordon-Levitt’s take on Sandman will be, both from an acting and a directing standpoint, is very much up in the air, but he’s a smart and talented enough guy that it makes us very excited to see the result.

What do you think of this news? Are you ready go to on a Joseph Gordon-Levitt journey to the Dreaming? Who would you like to see star as the various hellions and mystical entities Morpheus encounters? Let us know in the comments, yo.

]]>http://nerdist.com/joseph-gordon-levitt-in-final-talks-to-direct-star-in-sandman/feed/62DC Comics’ CONSTANTINE Brings Dark Arts and Whiskey to NBChttp://nerdist.com/dc-comics-constantine-brings-dark-arts-and-whiskey-to-nbc/
http://nerdist.com/dc-comics-constantine-brings-dark-arts-and-whiskey-to-nbc/#commentsFri, 27 Sep 2013 19:30:18 +0000http://www.nerdist.com/?p=91124Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and its success must have competitor DC Comics (and parent company Warner Bros.) on the defensive, because last night saw the announcement of their third comic book-based series in development as Deadline.com broke the news that NBC has purchased (with penalty) a drama based on everyone’s favorite chain-smoking, whiskey drinking con man turned demon killer, John Constantine.

Following the announcement of a CW series about The Flash earlier in the summer and the recent news that Fox is developing a Gotham City based police drama with pre-Commissioner Gordon, it’s no surprise that NBC has decided to add a comic-based property to its development slate. It is written/executive produced by The Mentalist executive producer Daniel Cerone and the much-debated mind behind the much-debated Man of Steel,David S. Goyer.

While Cerone has had much success both critically and with fans for The Mentalist, Goyer’s track record is a hot-topic for debate amongst fans. On the one hand, he’s responsible for such beloved franchises as the Blade series, as well as being Christopher Nolan’s writing partner throughout his run with the Batman franchise, but he’s also the man responsible for aforementioned Man of Steel and his last TV show, the Lostknockoff Flash Forward, was cancelled after only one season.

For our money, Constantine is an excellent choice for an ongoing series, but the creators behind the show would do wise to avoid rehashing the 2005 film version of the character, which saw Keanu “Whoa” Reeves take on the titular role, interpreting the character more as an action hero than the sly con artist he’s meant to be. In fact, perhaps the best place for them to start is with a loose adaptation of 100 Bullets creator Brian Azzerello’s run on the series (which, if you haven’t read, you need to go and do right now… issues #146-174), which followed the character from a short prison stay to uncovering a pornography ring, catching a serial killer, fighting some Neo Nazis, and finally confronting the man responsible for his initial incarceration. It would make for several excellent seasons of TV and truly showcase all the subtle and complex elements that make up this one-of-a-kind character.

]]>http://nerdist.com/dc-comics-constantine-brings-dark-arts-and-whiskey-to-nbc/feed/17“Man of Steel 2”: What Should Be Nexthttp://nerdist.com/man-of-steel-2-what-should-be-next/
http://nerdist.com/man-of-steel-2-what-should-be-next/#commentsSat, 29 Jun 2013 17:00:35 +0000http://www.nerdist.com/?p=80241With the release of Man of Steel, Warner Brothers finally has a decent-sized hit (that doesn’t involve Batman) to set up its cinematic DC Comics Universe. Almost immediately, the Monday after box office receipts were tallied, the Wall Street Journal published a story that a Man of Steel 2 is being planned for 2014, with Justice League to follow in 2015. That timetable is highly unlikely, but push each movie ahead one year further and they might be on to something.

We know few things for certain at this point, but in doing press for Man of Steel, it has been all but confirmed that Man of Steel/Dark Knight writer David S. Goyer is on tap to write the next Superman installment, as well as Justice League. Zack Snyder is also all but confirmed to return for the next installment too, although his directing Justice League is up in the air. The smart thing to do is to simply do Man of Steel 2 and Justice League back-to-back like the sequels to The Matrix and the first two Pirates of the Caribbean sequels and release them a year apart. And then, of course, hope they turn out better than those movies did.

While very little is concrete, David Goyer has said that he believes that, apart from another Superman installment coming first, it looks like Warner Brothers is taking the opposite approach from what Marvel Studios did with Avengers, instead hoping to spin-off the solo characters into their own post-Justice League films. Of course, fans might have to live with the fact that we might also never get those spin-off films for the likes of Flash and Wonder Woman. Fans need to remember that Warner Brothers isn’t Marvel Studios; they don’t need to exploit all their characters in solo films in order to justify their existence the way Marvel does. The straight-to-DVD animation unit at Warners essentially releases three animated films a year, and for the most part, it is a steady stream of Batman, Superman, and Justice League films. They have pretty much abandoned solo films for their other characters. It wouldn’t be shocking at all if Warners Brothers takes the same approach to these properties in live-action; it’s easier to maintain three big tentpole franchises than four or five, after all.

Regardless, we know another Superman film is coming, with the Justice League soon to follow. Here is what I feel we need to see in a Man of Steel follow-up, as well as what needs to be in a Justice League film that plays off of what occurs in a Superman sequel. So David Goyer, Zack Snyder, Warner Brothers, and all involved, start taking notes, because this is how you play your cards right going forward.

Man of Steel 2

Both Director Zack Snyder and writer David Goyer have both gone on record as saying that they feel that Superman needs at least one more movie of his own before a team-up movie like Justice League comes about, and after having seen Man of Steel, I wholeheartedly agree. We have only just been reintroduced to Superman, and we haven’t seen how this world has reacted long term to having an alien savior in their midst. We still haven’t seen important Superman tropes like Daily Planet reporter Clark Kent, Lex Luthor, Jimmy Olsen, etc. Superman and his world need to be more established for the current generation before we rush head-long into Justice League. So here’s what needs to happen in a Man of Steel follow-up.

If Man of Steel more or less followed the Batman Begins structure, then Man of Steel 2 (Man of Tomorrow?) would likely follow the structure of The Dark Knight, which gave the audience Batman’s top two villains in one film. In Man of Steel 2, the logical thing would be to introduce us to Superman’s two best and most well-known villains, Lex Luthor and Brainiac. We already know that Luthor’s company Lexcorp exists in the Man of Steel universe, based on the hints dropped in Man of Steel, so that means that the version of Luthor we see will be the version that has been in the comics since 1986, the brilliant industrialist, and arguably the world’s smartest man. We know David Goyer has no problems looking to older films for inspiration (many people cite The Dark Knight as a superhero remake of Michael Mann’s Heat). With that in mind, then he should look to the classic movie Amadeus as inspiration for the character of Lex Luthor.

In Amadeus, Antonio Salieri is a man who has it all-fame as a composer, wealth, popularity, and a chair in the King’s court. However, he is insanely jealous of Mozart, a far less popular and poorer composer who had little clout in his own day, beyond being seen as a novelty act. But Salieri burned with jealousy, because Mozart was innately brilliant and special, a man truly ahead of his time, something he knew he could never be. Luthor has the same relationship with Superman in his modern incarnation; no matter how rich or powerful Luthor is, even if he makes it to the most powerful office in the world as President, he can never be Superman. As long as Superman exists, he is less than perfect. This burning jealous, mixed with a tinge of respect I should add, should be the crux of the Luthor/Superman relationship.

But while Luthor should be introduced in Man of Steel 2, Superman needs a physical challenge as well. It is time to finally introduce his #2 villain Brainiac to the big screen for the first time. There have been tons of cool versions of Brainiac over the years (as well as some very lame ones) but maybe the coolest is the version recently created by Geoff Johns in his 2009 story arc simply titled Brainiac (this was recently adapted into the animated movie Superman: Unbound) This version of Brainiac is perfect for the big screen, kind of a combination of the Borg from Star Trek and the T-800 robots from the Terminator series. As many have pointed out in the past, Luthor represents the worst in humanity, while Brainiac represents the very worst of aliens, the two sides of Superman’s identity in their worst light. Superman: Unbound, with a few tweaks here and there and a lot of story expansion, is a perfect template for a Man of Steel sequel.

Also, a Man of Steel sequel could be used to reintroduce audiences to the concept of the Green Lantern Corps. Or forget reintroduce, considering the reception to Green Lantern; for most people, it would be their first exposure to the concept, period. The Green Lantern movie from 2011 was a pretty big disappointment, for both fans and Warner Brothers alike. But Green Lantern is one of DC’s main properties, and there is no way they are going to let that one movie be the final word on the character, especially since he will need to be an essential part of the Justice League’s flick.

A Man of Steel sequel could theoretically introduce the Green Lantern Corps in a small way, kind of like how S.H.I.E.L.D. is handled in the Marvel cinematic universe, only instead for the cinematic DCU. They don’t have to take up a lot of screen time, certainly less than S.H.I.E.L.D. did in Iron Man 2. But they could show up in a post-credits tag for example, perhaps wanting to take custody of whatever remains of Brainiac. But establishing the Green Lantern Corps as the “space cops” of the DC Cinematic Universe, once Justice League rolls around, you’ve already given the audience an intro to the Green Lantern Corps that isn’t the Ryan Reynolds movie. For that matter, the Flash could also be briefly mentioned as one of the other super-powered heroes who have shown up in the wake of Superman’s debut.

Justice League

While a Justice League film is still several years away, it is highly doubtful that Warner Brothers is going to take the slow and careful approach that Marvel Studios took with their build up to Avengers, which wasn’t only five movies, but five years. Warners won’t want to waste the momentum that Man of Steel has given them, and aren’t going to wait much beyond one more Superman movie before jumping straight into the Justice League’s story. There is evidence that Warner Brothers really wants to push the Justice League brand forward, as they recently signed a deal with Target stores to carry a line of over fifty Justice League branded items in a new consumer line, as well as rumors that Warner Animation has asked Bruce Timm to develop an all-new Justice League series once more, both seemingly attempts to get the Justice League “brand” out there in the public consciousness before a movie arrives. As it is, of the five main Leaguers – who are Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and the Flash, by the way, in case there was any question – only two are really candidates for a pre-JL movie, anyway.

Batman, thanks to so many successful versions of the character on the big screen, needs no introduction prior to a Justice League movie. Regardless of how different he might be from the Christian Bale (or Michael Keaton) version, the essentials of Batman always remain the same, and they won’t likely be different this time. Warner Brothers will certainly use Justice League as a way of introducing audiences to a new Bruce Wayne, but he won’t need another movie of his own beforehand. And Green Lantern had one just two years ago. While that version failed, it is highly unlikely that there will be a Green Lantern reboot until after a Justice League movie has been released, hoping the Justice League incarnation of the character can do for him what Avengers did for the Hulk. The JL movie will, in effect, be the Green Lantern reboot. And I’ve already laid out how Man of Steel 2 can be used to introduce the Green Lantern Corps. When Hal Jordan or John Stewart (or both!) show up in Justice League, they can be explained away as the first human agents in this intergalactic police force.

That leaves the Flash and Wonder Woman. The Flash is a character whose origins and motivations are easily explained by a bit of exposition (“I’m a forensic scientist who got hit by lightning. Now I run real fast!“) or even a brief flashback. Wonder Woman is different — of all the Leaguers, she would be best served by her own stand-alone origin film, and not just because she is one of the most iconic superheroes in the world, but because her origins are magic-based and not science fiction based like the other members of the team. But assuming a Wonder Woman film doesn’t happen, which is sadly very likely, then the JL movie will have to effectively serve as a Wonder Woman origin story as well. So how do you make a Justice League movie an origin story for Wonder Woman too? The key to introducing Wonder Woman into the story properly is by using DC’s #1 baddie Darkseid as the villain.

Darkseid,Your #1 Choice For Villain

In Man of Steel, Superman (with some help from the US Military) dispatches some six other Kryptonians, all as strong as he is. Assuming that the villain is Brainiac in a Man of Steel sequel, and that’s a safe assumption, that means he will have dispatched two powerful alien menaces in a row. So what will it take for Superman to need help from at least four other heroes, if not more? Well, how about a God? Darkseid is of course, technically an alien, but he is also more than that. He is the God of Evil, a personification of the darkest aspects of the human condition. And he is one of the very few villains that would justify Superman needing the help of his “super friends” in a live action film to bring him down.

So how does the use of Darkseid provide an origin/entry point for Wonder Woman? In the comics, Darkseid and his minions are part of what their creator (comic book legend Jack Kirby) referred to as “The New Gods.” Wonder Woman, in the comic book lore, gets her powers from the Greek pantheon of Olympus, essentially, the “Old Gods.” Your scenario for the Justice League then is this: In a Lord of the Rings style prologue, we see how thousands of years ago, Darkseid and his armies attempted to conquer our world, only to be driven back to their home world of Apokolips by the last of the Gods of Olympus and their champions, the Amazons. Most of the Olympian Gods fall in battle, eventually fading into myth, and what is left of their Amazons go into hiding, vowing not to interfere in humanity again unless Darkseid and his armies return.

The Amazons, having spent the past three thousand or more years in hiding, send their emissary to our world, to not only warn of the return of Darkseid, but to lead forces in defeating him. This gives Wonder Woman an origin story that resembles the one from the original comics, substituting Nazis with Darkseid’s armies, and ties it into the greater Justice League origin story. In lieu of her own movie, having Diana be the one who gathers the troops together and leads them into the fight could, theoretically, make up for the lack of her own movie.

I should add, If Warners decides to use Aquaman in Justice League as well, and that’s a big if, this flashback prologue could be used to establish his world and backstory as well. The armies of Atlantis could be the armies of Poseidon, whose homeland is sunk beneath the waves by Darkseid’s forces. This way, if Aquaman pops up later in the second act of the movie, the audience isn’t thinking, “wait, you’re telling me there’s an Atlantis too??” An opening like this not only establishes that there is magic in this world, but when Wonder Woman and Aquaman enter the narrative, you’re not asking too much of the audience to buy into mythical lost kingdoms, because it’s established in the opening ten minutes or so of the movie. It also establishes a tone that is different than the Avengers or the Marvel films — this is capital E Epic, a tale of ancient gods and monsters clashing with modern day icons, something totally in director Zack Snyder’s wheelhouse.

The plot mechanics, the character interactions, all of those things are on the shoulders of David Goyer of course, and Zack Snyder, and whoever ends up directing Justice League. But the basic plot structures for both Man of Steel 2 and Justice League are right there, in the pages of the comics that inspired these movies in the first place. It’s simply up to the powers that be to not shy away from the grand comic-booky nature of it, and give movie going audiences the world over a movie than encapsulates everything great and grand about the DC Universe.

]]>http://nerdist.com/man-of-steel-2-what-should-be-next/feed/14Review: “Man of Steel”http://nerdist.com/review-man-of-steel/
http://nerdist.com/review-man-of-steel/#commentsFri, 14 Jun 2013 13:00:44 +0000http://www.nerdist.com/?p=79112The short review: The filmmakers manage to deliver a fresh and new take on the very well-worn Superman origin story, but it does devolve a bit into repeated action and demolishing cities.

The long review: Though I’ve always been a DC Comics fan, I’ve never really been much of a Superman guy, except in that brief period in the ‘90s when the Bruce Timm animated series was on Kids’ WB and everything was awesome. Usually, I just think he’s too powerful and not a particularly interesting character. Still, it’d have been hard for me not to be excited by the prospect of a new Superman film, called Man of Steel, produced by Christopher Nolan, written by David S. Goyer, and directed by Zack Snyder. Would they be able to make him a more complex and compelling character? Would they manage to give a real-world context for his abilities, as they promised? Would they find a new way of telling the origin story every person in the entire known universe already knows? Would they make it more than just super-powered people punching each other? The answer to many, but not all, of these questions is: Yes.

Origin stories are always the easiest to tell, but they can become tiresome over and over again. This hasn’t stopped comic books from rebooting or tinkering with the beginnings of various heroes over the years, nor has it stopped studios from making these stories again. If the next Batman movie is just the origin story again, I’m probably going to be upset. But, Superman’s start hadn’t been seen on the big screen since 1978, so, no matter how familiar, the decision was justified. That, of course, means we start on the planet Krypton, an advanced but arrogant and pompous civilization that refuses to believe when Jor-El (Russell Crowe) warns them about the planet’s impending doom. They have more things to worry about, as General Zod (Michael Shannon) is preparing a coup, because evil. This leads to Jor-El sending his only son, the first naturally-born Kryptonian in centuries (everybody’s farmed nowadays), somewhere out into space, to be hailed as a god, probably.

The Krypton sequence goes on much longer here, and with more flying creatures, than we’ve seen previously. In fact, Jor-El is much more of a character than he’d ever been before, sort of a bigger character than Jonathan Kent (Kevin Costner) even. This is fine, because the design of Krypton and all the Kryptonians was among my favorite stuff in the movie. It looked fantastic, and the reason behind the various symbols and costuming makes perfect sense within the world established. Why do they all seem to have different Earth accents? Who knows? The bad guys even have a good reason for being bad, even if they are misguided and unwilling to listen to reason. More about them later.

What we’d expect to be a series of scenes of Kal-El’s ship crashing through to when he’s an adult Clark Kent is not what we get. Next we see grown up, bearded Clark working aboard a fishing boat and performing an act of superheroism that forces him to leave, lest he be found out. I like this aspect of the movie a whole lot. Clark knows he’s special, but he’s trying to find out why and how to be a part of it. We do see scenes of him as a child and finding things out, but we only see them when they become important to the current narrative, and they jump around in time periods depending on what works best thematically. They’re more like Clark’s memories than his backstory. Because the Superman origin is so in the zeitgeist, they only need to touch on pieces, how Clark had to learn not to let his anger get the best of him, how he had to try to be the bigger man because he could easily tear anybody apart if he wanted. It’s these things that give the character a lot more depth and make him more than just a do-gooder Boy Scout, but it also never gets too navel-gazey. Sure, there’s a bit of Space-Jesus talk in there, but only just a bit. It threads that needle very nicely.

Clark learning about his past, and at the same time, Lois Lane (Amy Adams) trying to piece together his life based on eyewitness accounts, is great. She meets him before the suit, so to her, he’s just a guy, and that’s fantastic. And she’s not a dummy. She’s actually a smart reporter who figures things out. They spark a friendship and he, as always, is there to catch her the thousands of times she gets thrown off of things. Not in a stupid or eye-rolling way, but because she’s in the thick of things a lot. I liked that.

The performances are quite good, especially from Henry Cavill as Clark/Kal/Super. He’s impossibly handsome and incredibly ripped but he plays the character as he should be played, as a good guy who doesn’t want to hurt anyone. He’s aware of his abilities and willing to use them, but he’s not cocky or even very confident in them yet. In contrast, Michael Shannon is frothing with anger, bitterness, and hate and does a really terrific job of it. Adams, Crowe, and Costner are pretty great in their roles and the less flashy characters like Laurence Fishburne’s Perry White, Richard Schiff’s Dr. Emil Hamilton, and Christopher Meloni’s Colonel Hardy do a bang-up job. The only casting misstep is Diane Lane as Martha Kent, who just seems to be trying to evoke an eccentric old biddy the whole time; really no idea why.

The direction is really where I am of two minds. On the one hand, a lot of it looks utterly gorgeous. Landscapes, be they real or computer-generated, look terrific, especially with Superman flying over and around them. Man of Steel lacks the glossy sheen of something like The Avengers, but that’s only because it’s closer in tone (though not nearly as dour) to Nolan’s Dark Knight movies. Seeing the guy in the cape jumping and flying around is something every kid, even a 29-year-old not-Superman fan like me, can get excited about. In this way, and in the overall look and composition of the scenes, Snyder does a truly bang-up job.

But “bang-ups” are at the crux of what I think the film didn’t do so well. The action scenes are at times hard to watch, because they’re trying to make them frenetic and “realistic,” and you just lose track of what’s happening. The camera isn’t fast enough to keep up with the speed at which things are happening, which is a bit absurd. There’s also the problem that, at a certain point, you’re just watching one super-powered person punching another super-powered person through buildings and across landscapes and accruing an incalculable amount of collateral damage in the process. Poor Smallville barely has anything in it, yet it’s on the main street that Superman and some U.S. military helicopters decide to battle two Kryptonians. Metropolis has it even worse. Sure, there’s the mayhem and destruction caused by the plot of the villains, but why should there then be an even more destructive battle between Superman and Zod. How can you claim to have the best interest of the people of Earth in mind when you wantonly level whole blocks of a major city while attempting to “save” it? It made the New York destruction in The Avengers look like some fireworks hit it. Maybe make Zod fly to the middle of nowhere to battle? That work for anyone else?

Those complaints (and a few weird plot conveniences I won’t get into) aside, Man of Steel is the best version of Superman on the big screen possibly ever. It’s not anywhere near perfect, but it’s a whole lot of fun and explores some interesting themes. If they’re setting up a series where he goes into outer space and fights huge aliens, I’ll be all for it, although if it’s just a bunch of invasions or mad scientists trying to take over Earth, it might get a bit old. With the exception of Dawn of the Dead, which will always rank at number one for me, I think this is Zack Snyder’s best film. And me, a dyed-in-the-wool Batman fan, would totally go see another Superman movie with these same creative people involved. But, maybe, leave the skylines intact.

Did you see the movie yet? Post your own thoughts below, and, please, no spoilers, okay? Also, let’s note here that the movie’s co-producer Legendary Pictures owns Nerdist Industries but the site remains ediorially independent.